[SOLVED] New psu?

[saitamas]

I just upgraded to an rx 5700xt/R5 3600x. I have an old Xfx ts 550w bronze psu. I’ve researched that 550w should be enough but I’m thinking I should upgrade to a bronze 650w. What do you guys think?

 

[Darkbreeze]

The 5700 XT calls for a 550w unit, BUT, we know some of these AMD cards are known to spike beyond those provisions and trigger protections in some cases, which can be an issue. A good 650w unit is probably a good idea. The fact that your XFX unit is old is just a compounding factor and if the unit is more than five years old it is probably a really good idea to replace it anyway, even if you didn't change graphics cards.

How "old" is it actually?

 

[saitamas]

The 5700 XT calls for a 550w unit, BUT, we know some of these AMD cards are known to spike beyond those provisions and trigger protections in some cases, which can be an issue. A good 650w unit is probably a good idea. The fact that your XFX unit is old is just a compounding factor and if the unit is more than five years old it is probably a really good idea to replace it anyway, even if you didn't change graphics cards.

How "old" is it actually?

I’m not too sure. I got it ~5 years ago but it was probably released a couple years before that. Also, I wasn’t expecting on needing to get a new psu so my budget is much tighter than what I would like for a psu. Any recommendations for a good, Cheapish one? I was thinking of a gigabyte p650b

 

[King_V]

I’m not too sure. I got it ~5 years ago but it was probably released a couple years before that. Also, I wasn’t expecting on needing to get a new psu so my budget is much tighter than what I would like for a psu. Any recommendations for a good, Cheapish one? I was thinking of a gigabyte p650b

Cheapish is not what you want to do if you value the longevity of the rest of your system - the 5700XT and 3600X are NOT cheap. Don't gamble.

Look at the first link in my sig. That is what you should go by.

After it is recommendations for when you have to go cheap, but with those expensive new parts, I would not recommend going with the budget PSU models. Unfortunately, the tariff war, and to a greater extent, the pandemic, has cause increases in PSU prices.

 

[saitamas]

Cheapish is not what you want to do if you value the longevity of the rest of your system - the 5700XT and 3600X are NOT cheap. Don't gamble.

Look at the first link in my sig. That is what you should go by.

After it is recommendations for when you have to go cheap, but with those expensive new parts, I would not recommend going with the budget PSU models. Unfortunately, the tariff war, and to a greater extent, the pandemic, has cause increases in PSU prices.

Would you recommend the powerspec 650 gsm?

Cheapish is not what you want to do if you value the longevity of the rest of your system - the 5700XT and 3600X are NOT cheap. Don't gamble.

Look at the first link in my sig. That is what you should go by.

After it is recommendations for when you have to go cheap, but with those expensive new parts, I would not recommend going with the budget PSU models. Unfortunately, the tariff war, and to a greater extent, the pandemic, has cause increases in PSU prices.

Thanks for the advice! I had a quick question about corsair psu's. Im seeing ones with a "w" and I don't know if they are better or worse. For example, tx650w vs tx650; or hx650w vs hx650. Do you know the differences?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Right now, don't even mention "cheap" and "power supply" in the same sentence. There has been little to no shipping of product from China to the US (And many other places) for around three months now, so the inventory that retailers have on hand is getting EXTREMELY THIN, to the point of there isn't going to BE any inventory on a lot of electronics and PC hardware soon if container ships don't start arriving again soon. Trump can say all he wants about not wanting to purchase from China any more than possible and getting US manufacturing back up to a level where we are not as reliant on other countries, but the fact is that for right now, about 75% of our goods, especially electronics, come from China or other overseas destinations.

For power supplies, I don't know of ANY power supply manufacturing facilities that are in the US, and as far as I know they are ALL in China. If china were to decide to really screw us at some point, they could simply stop allowing the shipment of power supplies to the US and we'd end up without any functional computer systems eventually. That's probably a bit overstated but you get the idea. So the prices on them right now, are well above what they would normally be and that's IF you can even FIND most models, because the majority of the commonly recommended units are sold out everywhere except the third party price gouger sellers that have back stock just for cases like this where they can ask stupid prices, and maybe actually GET them, because some people will pay it when they can't easily get what they need through normal channels.

These are the models you mainly want to look at:

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

Right now, the only really GOOD model that is even really available that isn't going to be greater than maybe 125 bucks, has been the EVGA G3 models. But even that has been getting slim and if something doesn't change soon I suspect that we are going to see new builds grind to a halt from lack of available, reasonably priced power supplies. I'm REALLY surprised that this hasn't been the focus of any articles on any of the tech rags, but so far, it hasn't. Guess nobody wants to talk about just how much the supply chain, all of the supply chains, are actually broken.

These, right now, are probably your three lowest priced options that are worth spending money on, and they are all significantly higher priced than they were four months ago. Unfortunately, that is the state of the union at this time, and nothing to be done for it.

Power Supply Comparison

pcpartpicker.com

 

[Darkbreeze]

Would you recommend the powerspec 650 gsm?

Thanks for the advice! I had a quick question about corsair psu's. Im seeing ones with a "w" and I don't know if they are better or worse. For example, tx650w vs tx650; or hx650w vs hx650. Do you know the differences?

I don't know, that's something I haven't noticed before, but I see it, and on current models available through Corsair's website. I'll check into it.

 

[saitamas]

I don't know, that's something I haven't noticed before, but I see it, and on current models available through Corsair's website. I'll check into it.

For example:

https://imgur.com/a/uLtDCkt

View: https://imgur.com/a/uLtDCkt

I found used ones on ebay that quote to be in a good, minimally used condition for ~$85 for both the hx650w and hx650.

I also found an open box gray labeled cx650 for ~$60

Edit: It seems that the hx650W is bronze certified whereas the hx650 is gold certified.

 

[King_V]

I would not buy a used power supply. You don't know what it's been through. Keep in mind how much you spent for your GPU, CPU, motherboard, etc. and what you're risking.

 

[saitamas]

I would not buy a used power supply. You don't know what it's been through. Keep in mind how much you spent for your GPU, CPU, motherboard, etc. and what you're risking.

Do you think its safe for an open box one?

 

[King_V]

Is the original 5-year warranty on it? If so, then maybe, although I still think you should get the money together and get one of the Corsairs from Darkbreeze's link, and do NOT do any gaming on your system until that point.

 

[saitamas]

Is the original 5-year warranty on it? If so, then maybe, although I still think you should get the money together and get one of the Corsairs from Darkbreeze's link, and do NOT do any gaming on your system until that point.

Alright I appreciate the help guys! I will probably wait for one of ones suggested to come back in stock.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Unless you are having problems, that is probably the best idea because what you have now SHOULD satisfy your requirements temporarily however that Bronze 550w TS unit is based on the Seasonic S12 group regulated platform and while it was a perfectly good platform for it's time, it's not a preferred topology for modern power supplies so I'd definitely replace it sooner than later.

The Gold TS models, based on the Seasonic G platform, were very good. The Bronze S12 based TS models, were ok, but they are old now, so best to play it safe when possible. Also, don't confuse them with the somewhat newer S12II models, because those were 520 and 620w platforms while the 750 and 850w M12II units were again based on the G platform, which was much better, but is still somewhat outdated now.

 

[saitamas]

Unless you are having problems, that is probably the best idea because what you have now SHOULD satisfy your requirements temporarily however that Bronze 550w TS unit is based on the Seasonic S12 group regulated platform and while it was a perfectly good platform for it's time, it's not a preferred topology for modern power supplies so I'd definitely replace it sooner than later.

The Gold TS models, based on the Seasonic G platform, were very good. The Bronze S12 based TS models, were ok, but they are old now, so best to play it safe when possible. Also, don't confuse them with the somewhat newer S12II models, because those were 520 and 620w platforms while the 750 and 850w M12II units were again based on the G platform, which was much better, but is still somewhat outdated now.

Sweet thanks! Is the evga supernova g1+ a good psu?

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's not "horrible" but it's definitely not "good". I'd pass on that.

• Price is too high
• Bad transient response
• Inaccurate power-good signal
• Low power factor readings

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/evga-supernova-650-g1-plus-psu,5661-12.html

Aris thinks it's poo poo, so I think it's poo poo.

 

[Darkbreeze]

This is LITERALLY the least expensive unit right now, you should even remotely consider purchasing.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $109.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-12 21:01 EDT-0400

 

[saitamas]

This is LITERALLY the least expensive unit right now, you should even remotely consider purchasing.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $109.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-12 21:01 EDT-0400

Alright it’s poo poo! Thanks for the response

 

[saitamas]

This is LITERALLY the least expensive unit right now, you should even remotely consider purchasing.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $109.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-12 21:01 EDT-0400

was looking into the Corsair hx650 (gold version) because the list said it was really good. However, they seem to have been released a number of years ago. If I bought a NEW unit, would it still be good?

 

[Darkbreeze]

There are both old and new versions, and in some cases several different revisions, of the VS, CX, TX, HX, RM and AX units, all of them. So just because there are some HX units from years past, doesn't mean that if you buy one new today it's going to be the same as those were. But, with the way the market is, you want to really LOOK for the specific numerical identification model number of the exact unit you are purchasing so you can compare it to some online resources and determine if somebody is trying to sell you one from many years ago because they have some of them sitting on shelves unsold, or if it's actually one of the current models. That pretty much goes for ANY power supply you buy right now, especially if you're buying it though a 3rd party seller and not directly from "shipped and sold by Amazon.com" or "shipped and sold by Newegg.com" etc. If it's "Shipped by Amazon.com and sold by Paul's backyard PC sales" then it could be any damn thing.

 

[saitamas]

There are both old and new versions, and in some cases several different revisions, of the VS, CX, TX, HX, RM and AX units, all of them. So just because there are some HX units from years past, doesn't mean that if you buy one new today it's going to be the same as those were. But, with the way the market is, you want to really LOOK for the specific numerical identification model number of the exact unit you are purchasing so you can compare it to some online resources and determine if somebody is trying to sell you one from many years ago because they have some of them sitting on shelves unsold, or if it's actually one of the current models. That pretty much goes for ANY power supply you buy right now, especially if you're buying it though a 3rd party seller and not directly from "shipped and sold by Amazon.com" or "shipped and sold by Newegg.com" etc. If it's "Shipped by Amazon.com and sold by Paul's backyard PC sales" then it could be any damn thing.

Alright I really appreciate all the help. Just one more question, I know in your list you talked about the seasonic focus/prime psu’s. But do you know anything about the x series?
https://www.amazon.com/SeaSonic-650W-Power-Supply-SS-650KM3/dp/B002VA7RPS

 

[Darkbreeze]

X series is an older platform. They are pretty good units, but they are old and they are not worth that kind of money. I wouldn't pay over 80 bucks for a 650w X series unit unless I had no other choices that were good. And I would never pay over 120 bucks for one, period, unless it was the ONLY decent power supply I could get because it was the last decent one left in the country.

That's not a hit on the model, it's just not realistic.

That EVGA G3 is likely a better choice by a fair measure. It is a Super Flower Leadex II based unit, which itself is a really good platform.

This unit would be a fairly decent choice as well.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Corsair)
Total: $109.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-13 13:20 EDT-0400

And this would be a great choice, if you don't mind paying about 25-30 bucks more than normal for it. But that's for everything right now, so in light of that, the price is pretty much in line. Problem is, two months ago you could have gotten a Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium for that price. And probably will be able to again in two months or whenever container ships start bringing us product again.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($144.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $144.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-13 13:20 EDT-0400